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Chantal Wiebe

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THE RESEARCH CRISIS IS REAL

 

THE RESEARCH CRISIS IS REAL

Science is in a replicability crisis – that is, other labs reproduce the same results only half the time at best. And any confirmed results are less significant than originally reported. If you don’t think this affects you, hold on.

Remember Amy Cuddy’s TED talk on power poses? Her study failed to replicate and her rebuttal still does not separate power poses from neutral poses. That is, while expansive body poses are better than contractive poses (e.g., slouching), it could be that sitting up straight would do. Damn.

Similarly, Malcom Gladwell drew conclusions about dyslexia based on a single study claiming that math word problems printed in fonts that were difficult to read made them easier to solve – that fuzzy fonts cued the reader to pay attention. But no one has reproduced that result in 16 attempts.

Gretchen Ruben’s happiness project isn’t immune either – the claim that simply smiling makes us happier just can’t be confirmed.

From book deals to speaking gigs, single-study research is a profitable venture. Replicability isn’t sexy but it matters because consumers, understandably, are moved by the results and buy it up. Literally.

Researchers across the globe have teamed up to repeat these studies, and many more, exactly the same way, with the blessing of the original authors, and with much larger sample sizes. So far, the replicability is no better than chance.

How does this happen?

In recent years, funding agencies and universities are pushing for new and innovative research and at the same time, journals have been publishing only statistically significant results. Researchers, then, have used these and other techniques to keep up with the pressure:

—> p-hacking: re-running statistical analyses looking for and selectively reporting the significant result

—> HARKing: (Hypothesis After Result is Known), which increases the chance of a false positive

In response, a debate exists about increasing the threshold for statistical significance, but in the meantime, some journals are focusing on registered reports where hypotheses are submitted prior to running the data. This allows for non-significant results to be published too, which is important for science.

So what can we do as consumers?

—> Consider new research interesting, but don’t base your life or work on it just yet. Be curious but think critically, please.

—> Expect the opposite result in the future. When my kids were small, giving peanut butter to children under the age of 1 was ill advised, and now, the paediatric guidelines are completely opposite. Likewise, the recent change of urging non-medical face masks for the public is a total inversion of the recommendations months ago.

—> The self-help industry profits from your placebo affect because just doing generally healthy activities, even if you know they are a placebo, improves your functioning. That *new* book or system or class isn’t what helped you – you helped you.

Replicability has been an issue for about a decade or more. Here’s an introduction to the issue from a study on pre-cognition, and how statistical significance in other fields is used: CBC Ideas podcast: Psychologists confront impossible finding, triggering a revolution in the field

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May 24, 2020

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chantal wiebe

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fresh starts in good company

FROM THE FIELD

THE RESEARCH CRISIS IS REAL

HOW TO START MICRO LENDING WITH KIVA.ORG

THE QUESTION ON GOOD FRIDAY – WILL THE SON RISE BEYOND THE SHROUD?

long natural grey hair

3 LESSONS ON GOING GREY NATURALLY

Salt of the earth

https://youtu.be/zxm0OdM5JFs

What I have learned from suffering

https://vimeo.com/239274128?loop=0

Thanksgiving is an action

https://youtu.be/UCIixg1QXWw?t=1052

Without forgiveness, there is no future

https://youtu.be/uWnodvo03Iw?t=348

Standing tall and not alone

https://youtu.be/NmNM9MLsWu4

On the resurrection, my Lord

https://youtu.be/cJakb6jqcw8

hello@chantalwiebe.ca

chantal wiebe

chantal_wiebe

From a few days ago when I ordered a small part fo From a few days ago when I ordered a small part for our dishwasher. Such a mundane but long overdue task to search out our model number and locate a reasonably priced replacement rinse aid door latch. It was $20 I didn’t even think twice about and even celebrated a wee bit as I crossed it off my house “to-do” list. To my shock, it was delivered tonight, on Christmas Eve. Even if that delivery person doesn’t celebrate Christmas, I wondered if he was missing out on family time. Was he tired after a full day but still had  a long drive back into the city to end his shift? This was certainly not an essential item - we didn’t need this part immediately. In fact, we’ve been without rinse aide for months with very little impact on our day to day. There was no chance to run out and thank him but I hope he felt appreciated today. Even from a long way off. Even through the cold weather and sacrifices. It did not go unnoticed. ✴️ THANK YOU. ✴️ #christmaswiththecovid
Chill chats and laughs on the floor. YouTube galor Chill chats and laughs on the floor. YouTube galore. Farting. Burping. Skating. Taller-than-your-mother hugs. Treating the house like a jungle gym. 🤼 The next few weeks at home together will definitely be hilariously teenaged. Ready or not, here comes Christmas isolation at home with these dudes. 😏#christmaswiththecovid  #wiebebuilds
At some point in the spring, it seems a contaminat At some point in the spring, it seems a contaminated bag of soil, not the typical brand I purchase because it was not easily sourced during the lockdown, gave way to thrips on a number of my plants. I have more than 70, but a few are certainly going to die. Yes, death is imminent for some of my favourites despite my efforts to keep the spread down. And amidst that frustration, this raven zz decided to pop up after more than a year of not growing at all. Surprises have such extraordinary timing. #wiebeplants
Cheers to the bloomers in the background. 🔅#wie Cheers to the bloomers in the background. 🔅#wiebeplants
Yesterday I had 1 errand that was a must but I ran Yesterday I had 1 errand that was a must but I ran into someone and we talked for 45 min. Turns out we share a similar history and had both grown despite significant hardship. It was healing to affirm in each other how it’s never too late to bloom. It was a good reminder that childhood trauma connects more of us than we think and our time on this earth is meant to benefit others. I’m taking a break from private practice, but if you or someone you know needs encouragement during this time, swipe for a small way I can help. Outside of my full time work, I will make time for checking in with a few of you with a copy of a recent receipt to a local business. ❤️ Email or DM to save a spot for you and/or a friend. #wiebeplants
When we say character matters, it should not mean When we say character matters, it should not mean that we dismiss an overt liar but welcome a more subtle, placating one. That would simply convey the bar was so formerly low that now it is only seemingly high because of our shared pretending that the medium is the message. We do not say character matters just to accept more sophisticated semantics. No, when we say that character matters we must mean it. #seentodayirl
A pandemic might be a tempting reason to repeat hi A pandemic might be a tempting reason to repeat history and ineffective practices. When both teachers and students are stressed and learning has been impacted, here are a few things you should know about grade retention.
This quote was given us as the clinical services s This quote was given us as the clinical services staff starting in the inaugural year of Manitoba’s first school system under First Nations jurisdiction. I’ll just leave this here. “What we are looking for is not someone who will cut through our dilemmas for us, but someone who will try to understand them. 
 
Not someone who will impose his/her will upon us but someone who will help us use our own will; someone who instead of dictating to us what we must do, will listen to us with respect.
 
Not someone who will reduce everything to an academic argument, but someone who will understand our personal motives, our feelings and even our weaknesses and mistakes, someone who will give us confidence in ourselves because he has an unshakable confidence in us, who will take an interest in our struggles without prejudging their outcome, who will not allow himself to become discouraged if things get tough and even if we take a different road from the one you would have taken.”
-Paul Tecumseh, The Memory of Persons #servingmfnerc
STUTTER / noun / a series of short, sharp sounds p STUTTER
/ noun / a series of short, sharp sounds produced by a machine or gun.

Origin: strike against

#whowonwho #breakingwordnews
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